The former Minister for Finance and Home Affairs P. Chidambaram on Tuesday took a sarcastic swipe at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-government for its lack of preparedness to deal with the aftermath of its demonetisation decision.
“Millions of working people standing in queue. Long live productivity,” Mr. Chidambaram tweeted. “Thousands of ‘rich’ and ‘corrupt’ persons standing in queue. The poor are cheering from their homes!”
He resorted to more satire, pointing out that banks “doling out” cash to citizens is proof that “‘ Achhe din’ has arrived”.
Last week, while welcoming the government’s efforts to stamp out black money, Mr. Chidambaram had said it was to be seen whether the government had put in place an implementation mechanism for the smooth exchange of the now defunct Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes.
“We support the objective of government to stamp out black money. But the method they have adopted raises questions...the move has come as a bolt from the blue for the common man,” he said.
A similar move was contemplated by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. However, Mr. Chidambaram said, the idea was dropped as “the economic gains were not too great”.
He said introduction of the new series of notes is estimated to come at a cost of Rs. 15,000-Rs. 20,000 crore, and that “the economic gains of demonetisation should be at least equal to that amount”.
Mr. Chidambaram also warned, “The move may cause initial contraction and some disruption of economic activity. The test will be how quickly the old notes are replaced.”
